Blackwood High
by DIRKDRAWMESMuT
Summary: LavixAllen.  Rated T for language, mostly on a certain raven-haired boy's part.  Join Allen in his first year of school.  Ever.  How will things turn out for him?  And what lies in store for him and his senior, Lavi?
1. September

This is going to be my first multi-chapter story. Updates won't be regular, but there will be updates.

So... behold chapter 1.

Enjoy.

* * *

'Allen! Are you getting up?' Mana called.

I opened my eyes, feeling that morning grogginess as usual. What day is it today, I wondered. Right, first day of High School. Perfect.

'Yeah, Mana… I'm up. Just give me a sec…' I uttered. Mind is awake; body still tired. Come on, Allen. Get up. I strained to lift myself up, and sat at the edge of my bed. I stretched my body out as I stood up, only to fall back again from the head rush. I heard Mana opening my door.

'Heheh, still trying get up, eh?' he laughed. He placed a box beside me.

'Trying.' I started. 'And failing.'

He chuckled once more. 'I brought your uniform up. You should try it on to see if it fits.' he said. Mana walked out and closed the door before I could reply.

I stood up again and opened the box. Inside was a white collared shirt, a navy blue blazer, black slacks, a red tie and black dress shoes. I threw off my nightclothes and tried my new uniform on. It fit rather nicely, except the shoes were a little on the big side. I examined the shield-shaped crest on my blazer, which clearly read "Blackwood High School". A small rose cross was engraved in the centre of it.

'Allen! There's only a half hour left until school starts!' I heard Mana holler. Crap, should pick up the pace.

I darted through my bedroom door, attempting to tie up my tie as I bounded down the stairs. I waltzed into to the kitchen where Mana was, only to have him turn around and stare at me a bit like I was an alien.

'Nice tie.' he told me with sarcasm clearly in his voice. I looked down at my poorly done up tie. Ha ha, very funny, Dad. I must've forgot to laugh at that one.

I sighed as I sat down at the table and corrected my tie. Mana placed a few pieces of toast with raspberry jam in front of me and sat down.

'You nervous, kiddo?' he asked, giving me that loving parental look.

I had to admit, going to actual school for the first time was more like cardiac arrest to me rather than just nervousness. How many 15-year-olds do you know have pure white hair, an odd scar on their face, and to top it off; a red and disfigured left arm? I didn't really feel saying all of that to my Dad, though.

'That's a bit of an understatement, Mana.' I told him, continuing to eat my toast.

'I can see that.' he smirked. 'I talked with your principal though about what's going on. If you feel that you're too uncomfortable at school, just tell him and he'll call me to come pick you up. I'm sure you'll be fine though.'

'Don't be surprised if I call you right away.' I said.

'Oh come now. You've dealt with crowds at the circus worse than 500 rowdy teenagers.'

I swallowed my last bit of toast. 'You're just saying that.' I said, standing up. And exaggerating quite a bit, I thought afterwards.

Mana stood up as well and picked up the car keys. 'Well, you don't know what it's going to be like unless you go find out for yourself. Right?'

'I guess…' I still bet you anything that I'm going to be avoided like the plague. 'Oh, where's my glove?' I remembered.

Mana took a white leather glove out of his pocket and handed it to me. I quickly pulled it over my left hand.

I followed Mana outside and stepped into the car. He turned the keys, backed out of our driveway and began driving in the direction of the school. As we drove, I looked out my window and watched the world pass by. I quickly noticed that we were going into a part of town we never really go to. There were a lot of kids in the district, and of course the number of teenagers that go to Blackwood.

'You starting to see some other students?' Mana asked, stopping at a red light.

I nodded. At one point I saw a tall young man with a teenage girl who was wearing the Blackwood uniform. She had really long black hair tied back into two pigtails. I wondered if she had ever cut her hair before. Then I turned my attention to the young man who was with her.

'Huh?' I blurted suddenly.

Mana turned to me, looking curious. 'What is it?'

'That man who's with that girl… he's wearing slippers.' I mentioned; sounding a bit dumbfounded.

'Ahaha,' he laughed. 'I figured you might say that when you saw your principal.'

I turned back to Mana. 'That's our principal?' I exclaimed.

'Principal Komui Lee.' he stated. 'He's a nice guy.'

'What about that girl who's with him?'

Mana quickly glimpsed at the girl who was with him before driving off again. 'I'm not quite sure. But I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for her relationship with him.' he said.

Let's just hope it's not the weird kind of relationship, I said to myself. Several minutes passed by before I saw the school. My jaw dropped at the enormous size of the building. Big school equals hundreds of kids who are inevitably going to stop and stare once they see me. I must've groaned loudly because Mana started to laugh.

'Just be you, Allen.' he told me. How many times have I heard that quote from those parents on TV? 'I'll come pick you up after school.'

I hesitated to even touch the car door handle. Mana offered to come in with me, but I refused, seeing as he also had work. I finally opened the door and swung it closed. My Dad waved to me and drove off the property.

'Breathe…' I muttered. I took a deep breath and exhaled, which only worked to some extent. Now my only problem was: where's the office?

I began walking towards the first entrance I saw. A school bus pulled into the bus circle, and dozens of teenagers began to step out. For some reason, I was fixed on a boy with rather long red hair bunched up in a bandana, and an eye patch covering his right eye. Then another boy stepped out, with the longest black hair I have ever seen on a human male. He had it tied back in a high ponytail, and looked pretty… intimidating. They started walking together towards one of the doors.

Suddenly the red-haired boy stopped and looked in my direction, and I quickly turned my head away in response. Great. The weird new kid was staring at him like a freak. I looked back in his direction, but he and his friend were gone. Damn it.

'Are you lost?' I heard a voice behind me say.

My body jolted from the surprise, and I spun around. It was that girl with the principal.

'Er, no- I mean, uh, somewhat?' Well, we're off to a great start. Real smooth, Allen.

To my surprise, she just giggled. 'You must be the new boy my brother Komui was talking about.' she said.

Wait. Komui? As in principal Komui Lee? 'You're the principal's sister?' I assumed.

'Yep. My name's Lenalee Lee. I'm a second year student here.' She shook my hand with a comforting smile. 'What's your name?' she asked.

'Uh, Allen. Allen Walker.' I replied, feeling extremely tense. It was pretty rare for me to meet someone so pleasant to me at first. And it's a girl, too.

'Do you want me to guide you through the school?'

Whoa. 'A-are you sure? I mean, I'm a bit different and all…'

'I don't mind, Allen.' Lenalee beamed. 'There are a lot of different characters in the school. But it's what makes people unique.'

Double whoa. 'Well, okay, if you're okay with it.' I told her.

I followed Lenalee through a pair of black doors, and already we were in the front office. I walked up to the secretary's desk, who of which was sleeping quite soundly. I read the name plaque sitting on the desk's surface. Reever Wenham.

'Mr. Wenham?' said Lenalee. He didn't budge. 'Mr. Wenham!'

Mr. Wenham then opened his eyes and yawned. 'Oh… Lenalee… who's this?' he asked.

'This is Allen. He's new here.' she informed him.

'Ah, I see.' he said, yawning again. 'I trust you have your schedule for the semester?'

'Actually, no, I don't…' I replied nervously. 'Is that a bad thing?'

'It kind of is, Allen. You need your schedule to know which classes you have and where they are.' Lenalee explained.

Well, I never received it, I thought. 'I guess it'll be pretty important for me, seeing as I'm not good with directions.' I laughed.

Mr. Wenham searched his computer for the file containing all the students' schedules, opened the file with mine, and printed it off. The paper slowly came out of the printer, and landed on the tray.

'Here you are.' Mr. Wenham handed me my schedule. 'Hope your first day goes well.'

'Thank you.' I said as I left the office with Lenalee.

The door shut behind us with a clank. I lifted my schedule up and examined it. Lenalee peered over my shoulder to look.

I pointed to some numbers in a column. 'So these numbers here tell me which classroom the course is located, right?' I asked her.

She nodded in response. 'Looks like you have history first in room 124.' she told me. 'Just so you know, any room that starts with a 1 is on the first floor, and ones with a 2 are on the second floor.'

'Alright, I'll keep that in mind.' I said, folding my schedule and putting it in my pocket. Seemed simple enough to follow.

'Now come on, we're going to be late for the first day assembly!'

'Wait, wha-'

Lenalee grabbed my wrist and dragged me quickly to the school auditorium. And obviously enough, the whole school was there. I could feel myself clamming up when I saw people near the entrance noticing me. Let the fun begin, I thought sarcastically.

'Um, Lenalee? Can we skip this?' I asked her, almost begging her.

She looked at me with concern. 'What's wrong?' she wondered quietly. 'Are you feeling a bit nervous?'

I nodded in response. She glanced at the stage, then back at me, and sighed. 'Well, we can sit near the back, if you want.' she offered.

'W-well, if it's okay with you! I just…'

'Don't worry about it.' she smiled. She led me a few rows forward, then to a couple of empty seats near the edge. I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes all focused on my grotesque image.

'Who's that? Is he an old man?'

'No, he looks younger than us, if you look close enough. Plus he's wearing the uniform. But you'd have to wonder why he has white hair…'

'And what's with that scar on his face? It's all weird-like…'

'Do you think it's domestic violence?'

Mr. Lee, to my relief, began to speak into the microphone, which shut the students up about me. 'Well, I hope you've all had a wonderful summer vacation, because today is the start of a brand new school year!' I could hear some students groaning from having to be reminded of what today was.

He continued after the moaning died down. 'First of all, I would like to welcome the new first year students and any other new students that have joined our school this year, and I would also like to say "welcome back" to all the returning third year students.'

As Mr. Lee went on about something related to school sports, I attempted to mull over everything that has happened. The image of those two boys came to mind. I figured I'd probably want to stay away from the black-haired one, but the redhead seemed a lot nicer. He'd probably be someone I'd like to get to know better.

'And that concludes today's assembly. An announcement before you leave: first and third year students will go straight to the library to be assigned their senior or junior student. Second year students will go to their period one classes.' Mr. Lee announced. 'You are dismissed.'

The students began to stand up and head out the doors. Before Lenalee left for class, she gave me the directions to the school library. She waved goodbye and left me standing in the middle of the foyer. Quickly after, I followed her directions to the library. There were two lines: one for first years and one for the third years. I stood in the first year line and waited patiently until I was called up. I approached the woman at the desk; she was young, although the black circles around her eyes concealed that essence. She also had brown, loose wavy hair tied back into a ponytail.

'Hello.' I uttered.

'Well, hello, Herr Walker.' she replied, looking a bit surprised but cheerful at the same time. I assumed she said "Mr. Walker" in another language. 'So let's see…' She began scanning the list in front of her. 'Ah, here it is. Your senior for this year will be Lavi.

'Um, if I may ask, what is this junior-senior thing all about?' I questioned.

'Certainly. The thing is; we believe that first year students, or juniors, would like a bit of help understanding what goes on in our school and in high school, in general. So we assign one or two junior students to a third year student, or senior. So for the whole year, your senior will be your guide as to what happens around Blackwood and where everything is.' she explained.

'Oh, okay. That makes sense.' I said. 'So… where is he? My senior, that is.'

The woman pointed to a familiar face. It was the redhead from this morning at the bus circle.

Crap.

* * *

The minute the bell rang to end second period, I picked up my things and hastily went outside to eat lunch alone. The door I went through led straight to the back parking lot and the sports field, which was just across from where I stood. The school's soccer team was having their first meet, and was practicing shooting at the time. I sat on the bleachers under some trees, hoping I wouldn't be easy to spot.

I looked up at the sky through the branches above me. It was a beautiful sunny day with only a few clouds. I felt relatively better seeing at how great of an afternoon it was. It almost took my mind away from all the awkwardness that has happened so far at school.

'I was wondering where I would find you.' someone suddenly said.

I turned my head around to find Lavi, walking up to the bleachers. He hopped up from the back and onto the highest seat beside me. 'So you're Allen.' he stated.

'Um, yeah… that's me…' I answered hesitantly. I kept beating myself in my head for not being more outgoing.

Lavi smirked innocently at me while I maintained no eye contact with him. 'What's the matter?' he asked, now looking more concerned.

I didn't really say anything in response; I only shrugged. It's not like I'm going to talk about something to someone I've only known for a couple of hours.

'I didn't get the chance to meet you before class started.' Lavi recalled. 'You just up and left without saying anything to me. Is something wrong?'

'No! No…' I told him, shaking my head. 'I'm just… not so used to being around so many people. I'm often afraid to go to a public place because of my appearance. So… if you think I look weird or old, just say it now. Please.'

Lavi chuckled lightly. 'That's it? Allen, Allen, Allen…' He ruffled my hair a bit with his hand. 'Have you looked at some of the students of Blackwood? Compared to them, you look absolutely normal to me.'

'So… you've seen people with hair that's more different-looking than mine?'

'Yup.'

'What about a scar as crazy as mine?'

'Well, I can't say I've seen scars as crazy as yours, but I think I can consider some other things to be more or equally as crazy.'

I felt rather relieved hearing him say that, and I finally smiled. 'Thank you Lavi. I really appreciate it.' I told him.

All of the sudden a soccer ball came rolling towards us. It bumped into one of the legs of the bleachers and stopped about a foot in front of it. One of the team members came running to retrieve it, but he halted the second he saw us sitting there.

'Hey, can one of you two pass the ball over here?' he asked.

I nodded, got up and stepped down onto the ground. I positioned my foot, lifted my leg up behind me and then swung it forward, propelling the ball towards the player. Except I hit it too hard.

The ball ricocheted off the player's head, knocking him backwards. Then the ball flew across the field and right into the goal. Lavi nearly busted a gut from laughing so hard. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Great job knocking out the guy, Allen! Now what are they going to think of you? I quickly ran towards the half-conscious player, and Lavi followed behind.

'I'm so sorry!' I apologized. 'Are you alright?'

The player sat up, and just laughed. 'Wow, I haven't felt a ball hit me that hard since first year of high school.' He stood up, brushing the dirt off his uniform and his odd-looking hat. 'And what a kick that was! Went straight into the goal!'

'Did he knock the brains outta you, Daisya?' Lavi joked.

'Ha ha, nah. This your junior, Lavi?' he asked. 'I'm telling ya, this kid's got some pretty solid soccer skill. You gonna join the team this year?'

I liked the idea, but I quickly remembered my arm, seeing as they were wearing short-sleeved jerseys. I had nothing to cover up the rest of my arm. At least, not yet.

'I think I'll sleep on it.' I replied.

'Well, think about it. We could really use someone like you on the team.' he said, walking back to the rest of the team. They stared past Daisya and at me, with somewhat stunned looks in their eyes. I could feel myself clamming up with anxiety.

'C'mon, let's go, Allen.' said Lavi, placing a hand on my shoulder.

As we marched back to the bleachers, I watched as the team stopped looking at me and proceeded with their practice.

'So what class do you have after lunch?' Lavi wondered.

'Umm…' I pulled out my schedule from my pocket and unfolded it. 'I have gym…' Well, seems that my day just keeps on getting better and better.

'Really? Let me see.' He looked past my shoulder at the piece of paper. 'Well, what do you know!'

'What?'

'You have gym at the same time and place as me! I guess they decided to merge the two classes this year.' he told me.

Just as he said that, the bell rang. I looked at my watch. 'Wow, time flies, huh?' I said.

'Yeah. I wish time would go a little slower sometimes. But it is what it is, I suppose.' He threw his bag over his shoulder and sighed. Lavi and I went to class together, but by the time we reached the change rooms, I told him I had to speak with someone really quickly. I took off for the gym office, and knocked on the door when I got there.

A voice called out from behind. 'Yes?'

I opened the door slightly, then all the way. 'Are you Mr. Chan? The gym teacher?' I inquired.

The man sitting in front of the computer swiveled his chair around to face me. 'I am.' he answered. He had blondish hair, tied up into a small ponytail. And… I don't know what it was, but it was something like a hat on top of his head.

I closed the door behind me. 'Um, I'm one of your students in your first year gym class for period 4.' I informed him, feeling a bit nervous. 'I'm-'

'Allen Walker? Yes, I heard about you.' he interrupted. 'Come sit.'

Mr. Chan gestured me to sit in the big chair next to him. He turned off the power on his computer as I sat down. 'So, would it be okay if I asked you to show me your arm? Your left one?' he requested. 'But if you don't want to, it's completely fine.'

'N-no. Not at all.' I rolled up the sleeve and showed him my red and disfigured arm. 'It ends at my shoulder.' I informed him, shaking a little.

Mr. Chan examined my arm closely, placing a hand upon his chin in deep thought. I began to wonder if he was going to say something unpleasant.

'Well… the best solution I can think of is to wrap it up with gauze. If anyone asks, we'll just say that you had surgery on your whole left arm, and it needs to stay wrapped until the doctor has to take it off.' he told me.

'What if they ask me what caused the need for surgery?' I asked.

'Say that you can't remember how it happened because you got knocked out and lost your memory because of it.'

Nice. They'll buy that one, I thought sarcastically. Mr. Chan took out a large roll of gauze from a cabinet and began wrapping it around my arm. It took over 5 minutes to get my whole arm covered with gauze. He cut the end, stood up, and stretched from having to bend over, putting the gauze away afterwards. 'Can you flex your arm?' he wondered.

I bent my arm up and down and rotated it. The gauze didn't slip or rip from the movement. 'Yeah.' I answered.

'Good. Because if you couldn't, you'd probably have miss this class until you found a better solution.' he told me, heading for the door. I'd actually prefer that if the course wasn't mandatory for first years.

I left through the door I came in and went into the boys' change room. Everyone had already gotten ready and went to the gym, leaving the room completely empty. I sighed with relief and got changed into my uniform with haste. I jogged through the door once I was finished and found myself in the gym. Everyone was doing their own thing at the moment; I found Mr. Chan watching all the boys and making sure there was no foul play happening before class even started.

Mr. Chan turned his head and noticed me at the door. I came up to him, thanking him for his help.

'Don't thank me just yet, Allen. If that gauze holds up until the end of class, then you can thank me.' he said. And with that, he blew the whistle around his neck, calling all the first and third year boys. I noticed Lavi in the pack, and waved to him. He waved back.

I stood with the group together in front of Mr. Chan, beside Lavi. I began to tense up again when I heard some guys whispering behind me. Lavi nudged me with an arm lightly.

'Don't listen to them.' he mouthed. 'Hey, what happened to your arm?'

I remembered what Mr. Chan had told me what to say if this question popped up. 'Surgery. Gotta keep my arm wrapped up until the doctor removes it.'

'Oh, I see. But why did you need surgery?'

I wondered at this point if Mr Chan could predict the future. 'It was in an accident. I don't remember how it happened though; I was out cold.'

Mr. Chan cleared his voice, thus ending our conversation. 'Welcome to gym class, boys. Seeing as today is our first day, we will begin with an assessment to see where you all stand with your physical fitness.' he announced. 'Now for a warm-up, I want 5 laps around the gym, then drop and give me 20 push-ups.'

He blew the whistle, and everyone began running. It wasn't until a minute after we started that I noticed the black-haired guy from this morning running in front of the whole class. I decided to run a bit faster; I was now second in front of everyone. He looked behind me, giving me a dirty look, and ran faster. Now normally, I would back off when someone gave me a look like that, but something about that guy made me feel angry, like he was challenging me. I decided to run faster, trying to catch up to him.

I realized that it had been 5 laps already, so I stopped and began the 20 push-ups. The black-haired guy and I finished at about the same time.

'Well done Walker, Kanda.' Mr. Chan praised, grinning proudly. 'I know you're good when it comes to gym, Kanda. But you, Walker, have amazing potential as well.'

'Thank you, sir.' I replied. I glanced at Kanda, who only glared at me in response.

The rest of the boys finished a couple of minutes later. Lavi came up beside me and doubled over to catch his breath. 'Geez, Allen!' he panted heavily. 'What was that all about? You were right beside me, then it looked like you were racing Yu!'

'Yu?' I repeated.

'That mean-looking guy over there.' Lavi pointed to Kanda. 'He hates it when people call him Yu, though. He'll beat you if you do.'

'Then why do you call him Yu?' I asked with skepticism.

Lavi smirked slyly as he stood up straight. 'I just like to push his buttons.' he replied. 'Watch this,'

I turned to Kanda while Lavi called out, 'Fast as always, Yu! Great job!'

Kanda glowered menacingly at him. 'Fuck off, retard.' he growled.

Lavi tried hard to hold in laughter at his foul-mouthed reply. I looked back at him curiously. He stood back up again. 'Ha ha… he probably would've said that even if I didn't call him Yu.' he told me.

'Is Kanda really that unpleasant, or is he having a bad day?' I wondered.

'Hmm…' Lavi held his chin jokingly; obviously he was going to say something silly. 'I'd have to say both.'

'So… he can be nicer at times? If that's the right way to say it…'

'I wouldn't say nicer, but he can act more… civil, sometimes. Although he's just grumpy by nature.'

Mr. Chan blew his whistle once more, silencing the chatter in the gym. 'You've probably noticed the ropes hanging in the middle of the room.' said Mr. Chan, pointing the class to the ropes dangling from the suspension beams on the ceiling, about 20 feet in the air. I felt a little sick, imagining myself holding on to the rope for dear life so I wouldn't fall from such a high height. 'I want every first year to pair up with a third year and take turns trying to climb to the half-marker of the rope. The person who isn't climbing will spot the one who is climbing. If you cannot make it to the half-marker, try to remember where you stopped, and let me know.'

Well, half isn't so bad, I thought. Lavi and I almost immediately paired up together, and we were about to head to our rope until Mr. Chan stopped us.

'Can you two be a group of three with Kanda?' he asked. 'We don't have the same amount of people in the first year class as the third year class.'

'Yes, sir.' we both answered. Once we all got to our rope, we decided that Lavi would go first, and waited until Mr. Chan blew the whistle for us to start.

FWEEE!

And just like that, Lavi was pulling himself up the rope. I looked up and watched so he didn't fall. Kanda seemed to turn his attention to something else, most likely because he didn't feel the need to spot since I was here. Minutes later, Lavi had reached the half mark of the rope, and quickly made his way back down. The moment he reached the floor, he began waving his hands around.

'Rope burn.' he said. I examined his hands; they were red and warm from the friction of the rope.

'Can I go now?' Kanda questioned, sounding very impatient.

Lavi nodded. We watched as Kanda climbed up the rope; he was much quicker than the rest of the boys. He made it to the half-marker in no time at all and came back down in the same amount of time.

'Alright, your turn Allen!' said Lavi. He gave me a light pat on my shoulder.

I slowly approached the rope, glancing up at the beam it hung off of. The rope itself seemed all right, yet the condition of the beam was rather questionable. I couldn't tell how bad it was since it was so high up.

'C'mon, let's go, Allen!' Lavi encouraged. Kanda continued to look at me irritably.

I grabbed the rope with both hands, hooked my feet on top of the first knot and lifted myself upwards, hooking my feet onto the second knot. I continued to do that until I had gotten to the half mark.

'Way to go!' Lavi grinned, giving me the thumbs-up.

I began climbing down, but stopped when I felt the rope jolt. As the rope swayed lightly with me hanging onto it, I could hear a creaking noise coming from above. The beam had bent inwards slightly.

'Shit…'

Lavi stared up at me curiously, seeing as I stopped. 'What's wrong?' he called out.

My heart began to race; the beam was breaking. The beam was _breaking_. I kept telling myself that I had to get down quickly or something bad would happen.

'Lavi…'

'What?'

The beam continued to creak. 'I don't think I can move…' I told him. My arms were beginning to hurt from hanging on so tightly.

Kanda spoke up. 'How can you not move? You were able to climb down until you stopped right there, stupid bean sprout!' he yelled.

I twitched a bit. Bean sprout? What kind of name is that, I asked myself. 'That's not it…' I replied. 'The beam above… I think it's breaking when I move.'

Lavi took a step forward in order to get a better look. Kanda glanced up at it as well. 'Well… just try going slowly.' Lavi suggested.

I began climbing down once more at a more slower pace, but the rope continued to jolt. There was still a long way to go until I could reach the bottom. I clung onto the rope tighter, in fear that I would fall if I continued to move. Well, I suppose in this case, falling will probably be inevitable.

'I can't!' I told them. 'It's still breaking!'

Lavi turned to Kanda, telling him to get Mr. Chan. He took off to get the teacher as Lavi kept an eye on me so that I wouldn't fall. I felt the rope jolt again. Another jolt like this and it's gonna snap, I predicted. I looked down at Lavi, who seemed pretty worried now.

A loud clack filled the gym, and before I knew it, everything was dark and quiet.

* * *

Whew! And that ends chapter 1!

What happened to Allen? Find out when chapter 2 comes out!

Cheers - LMC


	2. October

Finally done after what, a week or so?

Here it is! Chapter 2!

* * *

'… len… Allen…'

I slowly opened my eyes; I was in a hospital room. Mana was at my bedside, gazing over me whilst smiling.

'Ah, now you're with us.' he said. He ruffled my hair a bit with a hand. 'You took quite a fall yesterday.'

Wait, what happened yesterday? Oh yeah… the suspension beam broke. I glanced down at my arms; my left arm took most of the damage. Mana explained that a part of the broken beam fell on my arm and fractured it in two different places. My right only suffered a small sprain. And I suffered a small concussion, on top of it.

'That's it? I was expecting worse…' I said. What? I was.

Mana chuckled. 'From what I heard, a friend of yours acted right when the beam broke, and grabbed you before you fell directly on the floor.'

'So… that somewhat lessened the force of the impact?' I guessed. My eyes were wide from surprise. Though I was pretty sure it was Lavi who grabbed me.

'I suppose that's the best way to put it.' said Mana, scratching his ear. 'Anyways, you'll be in that cast for about 2 months; that's what the doctor said. The fractures weren't too bad.'

'Two months?' I cried. 'What about the hospital fee?' I asked nervously. I was well aware that Mana and I didn't have a lot of money, so I was concerned if this accident would really cost us.

'Taken care of.' Mana replied joyfully.

My expression turned blank. The room was dead silent for almost a minute or so.

'What?' I blurted suddenly. 'How?'

'Since it was the school's fault for the lack of inspection with the building's structure, they have paid for your hospital fee.' Mana clarified. 'So you have nothing to worry about.'

Well, that's certainly a load off my back. 'That's good.' I beamed.

Mana stood up and got his coat on. 'I've got to get back to work; my break is almost over.' he told me. 'But when I'm done, I'll pick you up something from the nearby burger joint. What would you like?'

'Usual.' I quickly responded. I had heard rumours that hospital food was gross, so I didn't really want to take any chances.

'Alrighty, I'll be back at around 4.' he said as he approached the door. 'Oh, by the way, you have some visitors outside.'

He opened the door and let them in. Lavi and Lenalee came bursting through. Mana laughed and left, leaving us alone.

'I heard about what happened!' Lenalee cried. 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I wish I had known about the beams before this occurred…'

I stared at her curiously. 'Why you? It's the principal's duty to make sure the school is stable, isn't it?'

'Well, yes…' She scratched her neck, seeming to be a little ashamed. 'But… Komui kind of needs to be… reminded of certain things.' she told us hesitantly.

That statement caused both Lavi and I to look at her incredulously. Lenalee swallowed and blushed lightly. Lavi shook his head in discontent.

'Enlighten me again as to _how_ your brother became principal.' Lavi stipulated. Then he paused, looking as if he had said something that he shouldn't have. 'Actually, I don't want to know.'

Lenalee sat in the chair beside the bed, putting her bag down against the leg. Lavi decided to take a seat at my bedside.

'So… how long are you gonna be in that cast?' Lavi inquired.

'2 months.' Strangely enough, I felt that after hearing me say it rather than Mana, 2 months sounded much longer than it actually was. I asked myself how I could do things while my arm was out of order. Writing wasn't going to be a problem, since I'm ambidextrous. But doing something like getting dressed or taking a shower would most certainly be hard without both hands.

I breathed out deeply. Both Lenalee and Lavi gazed at me uneasily. 'Is something wrong?' Lenalee asked.

Life, that's what's wrong. 'No, no, I'm fine.' I answered, trying to sound happier.

'Well, you just seem upset…' Lenalee pointed out. 'Is there anything we can do for you?'

'It's fine, Lenalee.' I told her. 'I'm just a little on the tired side.'

Lenalee's bag unexpectedly began playing music. She opened up a pouch, and pulled out a small blue phone; a silver cross dangled from the cover. She slid it open and read the message.

'Aw, I gotta go; Komui's waiting outside to take me to gymnastics.' Lenalee placed the phone back in the pouch it was stored in and threw the bag over her shoulder. 'I'll see you guys later.'

We waved as she walked out the door and disappeared down the hall. The Lavi's expression turned serious as he averted his attention back to me. I had a feeling this was about yesterday.

'There's something I've been wanting to ask you since yesterday.' he stated; his voice seemed a bit angry. Yep, I knew it.

'What?'

'Why did you lie to me about your arm?'

The second he finished that question, it seemed like time had stopped.

'You… saw it?' I felt extremely overwrought as I asked that. Lavi nodded.

'As the paramedics were taking you out of the stretcher, I saw them ripping off the gauze on your left arm.' he told me. 'I was the only one who saw though, besides Mr. Chan.'

'Please don't tell anyone!' I pleaded, feeling my eyes tearing up. 'I just want to feel normal like everyone else! But right when they see my arm they want to stay as far away as possible! Please…'

Awkward silence followed right after that sentence was finished.

'I won't.' Lavi finally said. 'But listen; don't lie to me about stuff like that again.'

'I'm sorry.' I placed my hand on my arm self-consciously. 'I was just afraid… I didn't want you to hate me because of my arm.'

Lavi tilted his head down, intertwining his hands. 'Allen, can I tell you something?'

I sat up straight to listen to what he had to say. He looked back up at me. 'I wasn't assigned as your senior by the normal methods that they'd use to assign juniors and seniors together.' he said. 'Mr. Lee specifically asked me to be your senior during your first year.'

Specifically? 'Why is that?'

He flipped some of his long red hair out of his face. 'I don't really know exactly why, but he told me that he trusts me enough to be your senior. Perhaps he knew that giving you a different senior would have caused problems for you.' he explained. 'He did mention that you were quite different.'

I don't know whether I should take that comment lightly or not, I thought to myself.

'So when I saw you, I knew what he meant. No offence.'

'None taken.' Though what I just said was true, I did feel a small twinge of anger.

'Allen, I just want you to understand; I want to be your friend. And so does Lenalee. But you need to tell us about something like this beforehand.' said Lavi. 'If something goes wrong, we want to be able to protect you.'

I think my heart just skipped a beat. 'I… don't know what to say…' I murmured; I could definitely tell that my face was red now.

'You don't have to say anything.' Lavi smiled. The only thing I could do was smile back.

Lavi checked the clock; he stood up from the bed and stretched, and then picked up his bag.

'You're leaving?' I presumed.

'Yeah, the old man wanted me back home before 3; I got a lot of homework to do as well.' he told me. I was a bit disappointed; I wanted Lavi to stay a bit longer, just until Mana got back. Lavi waved to me and left through the door, leaving me all alone in the silent hospital room.

I decided to close my eyes and sleep until Mana got back, since I couldn't do anything else.

My eyelids flit open at the sound of the door closing; an hour seemed to pass by quickly, as Mana had already returned with dinner. I sat up, feeling glad that he was back. He placed the bag of food on the end table by my bed; I took almost no time rummaging through it for food and digging in.

'You must've been hungry.' Mana laughed.

'Mm-hm.' I mumbled; my mouth was full of burger. I started coughing a bit as I swallowed.

'Easy, Allen. Eat slower or you'll choke.' I smirked innocently; I _was _hungry, Dad. 'Anyway, how was your time with your friends from school?' he wondered.

'Good.' I responded. Then I started feeling a bit sick from guilt, remembering how Lavi was mad at me for lying to him. I put my burger aside and leaned against my pillow, looking at the window instead of Mana.

'Well now, I've never seen this happen. Something on your mind, kiddo?'

I hesitated. '… I'm just feeling guilty.' I told him crestfallenly.

'And why's that?' he asked. 'I told you earlier, the hospital fee is covered, and it's not your fault that you got hurt either. So you have nothing to worry about.'

'That's not it…' I muttered. 'I lied to Lavi… about my arm… and he told he saw it as the medics were taking me away.'

Mana frowned, holding his chin with one hand. 'What did you say, Allen?'

'I had my arm wrapped up in gauze before gym started…' I began. 'Then the teacher told me what to say if someone asked. So during class, Lavi asked me about my arm… I said that I had surgery on my arm, and I wasn't supposed to take the gauze off until it was okay.'

'And?'

Man, he's good. 'And then he asked me what happened that caused the need for surgery. I told him that it was in an accident, but I couldn't remember exactly how it happened because I was knocked out.' I continued.

'I see…' Mana's face became a bit disappointed. 'So what did he say while he was here?'

I gulped loudly; the weight of the guilt started to feel a bit heavier with that question. 'He seemed kind of mad…' I replied. 'He said he wouldn't tell anyone, but he didn't want me to lie to him again.'

'I guess it was better than you expected, huh?' he chuckled. 'But Lavi is right, Allen; you shouldn't lie about yourself. Lying doesn't make you friends that easily.'

'Dad! You know I feel uncomfortable about my arm!' I exclaimed. 'When most people know they immediately dislike me!'

'I understand, Allen. But you need to learn to feel happy in your own skin. And before you make your rebuttal, I know that it can take a long time to do, but it's your job to make it happen. There will be people who will shun you because of your differences, but you have to let them know that you don't care about what they say, because you are you, and nothing or no one other than you can change you.'

I gazed down sadly at my left arm. Feel comfortable in my own skin? That sounds like a near-impossible thing to do in my case. I groaned heavily and continued to eat my dinner until there was nothing left but wrappers and a brown paper bag.

* * *

September ended with the local construction company starting the work on replacing the suspension beams in the gym, which apparently was long overdue, according to the school board's safety and building inspection sector. Judging from the tone of Mr. Lee's voice on the P.A. system when he announced it, he didn't sound that happy about it. He seemed rather miserable instead. I wondered whether or not it was because it would cost the school a fortune for the repair, or possibly because he got an earful about not doing it sooner from his superiors.

'About damn time.' said Lavi. 'I still can't believe that the suspension beams would break like that while you were still climbing.'

I shrugged. 'Well, it can happen, I suppose.' I finished off the can of pop I had, crushed it, and threw it in the recycling. 'But the chances would be slim.'

'Hey, how's your arm doing?' he asked.

I stared down at my left arm, and lifted it in front of me. Instead of a regular cast, my arm was supported by a plastic brace. I could move it around and write with it still, but gym was out of the question right now.

'It's better, but not fully healed yet.' I replied.

Lavi stretched his arms out and put them behind his back. 'That sucks.' he frowned. 'We're starting our soccer unit soon; you could probably kick Yu's ass, seeing as you almost knocked Daisya out and landed the ball in the goal all with one shot.'

'Don't remind me.' I groaned. 'Besides, I think it was just a lucky shot!'

Suddenly Lavi seemed like he had an idea. I swear, if it's another idea that has to do with pranking someone, I thought irritably.

'Hey, do you wanna go out to Main Street with Lenalee and I?' he wondered. 'It's only like, 5 minutes away and we have another hour left of lunch.'

'I dunno, what do you guys do there?'

'Well, since October is here and Halloween isn't that far, we're probably going to go down to Krorykins' costume depot.'

Krorykins? Weird names just keep popping up from this guy everyday, I said to myself.

'Sure…' I said.

'Awesome!' Lavi abruptly grabbed my wrist and dragged me with him to the front doors. Lenalee was waiting patiently until she spotted us approaching her.

'You guys ready to go?' she asked.

'Wait a second…' I gave them both an annoyed look. 'Were you planning on taking me, either way?'

Lavi grinned mischievously. 'Yup.' he replied.

'You've been through a lot in the past month, Allen.' said Lenalee. 'So we figured that you needed a bit of a break.'

I placed a hand in my hair, almost wanting to hide it. 'But… my white hair and scar…' I reminded them.

'Aw, who cares, Allen!' Lavi continued to drag me outside by the wrist while Lenalee just giggled. 'Everyone at school has already seen you! But have they done anything? Nope! So it's most likely gonna be the same deal on Main Street!' He finally managed to get me through the doors. I glanced up and noticed that it was overcast today.

'C'mon guys! We don't have all day!' Lenalee exclaimed.

Guess I have no other choice, I told myself as I stopped struggling. We walked off the property and made our way to Main Street. Everything was always busy there, no matter what time of year it was. There would always be festivals or events going on, or it would be busy just by itself, even when there was nothing major going on. I remember that Mana took me here once to get his clown costume tailored.

'So Allen, have you ever been to Arystar's costume store before?' asked Lenalee.

'Arystar?'

'His name is Arystar Krory.' she clarified. 'Although Lavi's pet name for him is Krorykins. So have you?'

I shook my head. 'No. I actually don't come to Main Street that often.' I told her. 'I've always been too afraid…'

'Better get used to it!' said Lavi. 'We come here pretty often!'

Great. 'Well… maybe no one will care.' I murmured.

'That's the spirit!' Lavi lightly punched my shoulder. I grimaced.

Lenalee quickly spotted the store. 'We're here!' I followed them up the street, to a rather dark-looking store. The sign simply said "Costume Depot".

The minute I walked through the door, I jumped when a ghostly shape came rushing towards us. Then I quickly realized that it was ghost decoration tied to a pulley that ran along a line, starting at the ceiling and ending just in front of the door to scare the patrons. I stood right there, frozen with shock, while both Lenalee and Lavi just laughed.

'He got you good, didn't he?' Lavi chuckled. He pushed the ghost aside like it was nothing. 'Oi! Krory!'

Nothing happened. 'KRORYKINS!' he called out louder.

A door in the back opened. A dark figure stretched his arms and yawned loudly. 'Ugh, Lavi… do you have to keep calling me that?' he complained. A tall man, who strangely resembled a vampire, approached us. 'How are you today, Lenalee?'

She smiled brightly. 'Good, thanks.'

Arystar then turned his attention to me, and stared at me curiously. 'Who's this?'

'This is Allen.' Lavi replied. 'He's a new friend of ours from school.'

'Nice to meet you…' I felt that his image was a little intimidating. His eyes widened, like he was surprised.

'Are you… afraid of me?' he wondered, cocking his head to the side.

'Allen, Arystar isn't mean at all.' Lenalee told me. 'In fact, he wouldn't hurt a fly. So you don't need to worry about him commenting about you.'

'W-well, I wasn't really…'

Then Lenalee interrupted me. 'Anyways, Arystar, were you sleeping on the job again?' she asked, sounding disappointed.

'Nope. Not at all.' he answered rather quickly. That sounded more like lying, I thought.

'Krorykins… you do know that if you sleep while the store's open, someone might come in and take something, right?' said Lavi, folding his arms.

'Right…' he muttered, looking more miserable now. So he _was_ lying.

'So, has the shipment of new costumes come in?' Lavi inquired, dropping the previous subject.

'Yes, in fact, they came in just yesterday.' Krory responded. His face brightened up right after he had asked that. 'I just finished putting them up, so that's why I was tired before you came here. You three can go ahead and have a look.'

'Great! Thanks Arystar!' said Lenalee.

Arystar showed us to the costume aisle. Literally, the whole aisle contained everything for costumes; from whole outfits to makeup kits to realistic-looking fake weapons. My jaw gaped from awe. I had never really told anyone this, but Halloween was one of my favourite holidays. Not just because of the large amount of candy that one could get, but because no one cared about what others looked like.

'What to be, what to be…' Lenalee scanned through the shelves like nobody's business. I noticed a chart of models wearing each of the costumes. I called them over and showed them.

Lavi eyed the model wearing a pirate costume. I figured that he thought it would go well with his eye patch.

'I like the cat costume.' Lenalee chimed. The costume consisted of ears, a very short black dress, a tail, boots, and a pair of oversized paws. I wondered how her brother would react to such a skimpy costume.

'Uhh… I don't think that would be the best idea, Lenalee…' I spoke up. 'Your brother m-'

'Oh pshaw. My brother can't always dictate me over what I should or shouldn't do, or what and what not to wear.' she smirked. I have to say, her boldness was definitely admirable, but I can't say I didn't warn her. 'If anything I'll just wear some leggings underneath.'

'That sounds a bit more reasonable.' Lavi thought aloud.

I nodded. 'I agree.'

'Alright, alright.' she huffed. She went to go find the costume while me and Lavi remained at the chart.

'So what do you think you want to be?' Lavi asked me.

I continued to examine the chart; I found something under the clowns' section. "European Whiteface Clown", it read. It had a furry cloak with an intricate mask, along with a bit of makeup, a pair of white cartoony gloves. The clothes underneath it didn't really seem that clownish, but the whole thing still kind of passed, I believed.

'That clown one seems interesting.' I stated.

'You're into clowns?' Lavi asked.

I nodded. 'My dad is a clown. I worked it him a bit when I was younger, so yeah.' I told him.

'Can you do a trick or something?'

'Not right now! I don't think Arystar would like it if I messed up the store.'

'Aw, c'mon Allen! Just juggle or something! Nothing major.' he pleaded.

I looked around for something I could juggle and not break if it was dropped. I found a bin full of small spongy balls, and took out five of them.

'Five? That's crazy.' Lavi laughed. 'This'll be something.'

As I began to toss them in the air, I focused hard on maintaining a pattern in which the balls wouldn't fall out of my hands. Behind me, I heard the sound of Lenalee's high heels clacking on the floor, heading towards the fitting rooms.

I did a few more juggles before I decided to stop. I caught two balls in each of my hands, and as the fifth one fell, I tilted my head up. In one quick action, I caught the last one with my teeth. I spat it out and rubbed it on my shirt before putting it back in the bin.

'That's amazing! I didn't think you'd be good at something like this!' Lavi beamed.

'Well, like I said, I did work in the circus.' I reminded him.

Lenalee then came bustling out of the fitting room in her cat costume. 'How do I look?' she wondered, looking at us.

I could feel blood swarming to my face as Lavi and I glanced at each other. It was, indeed, very skimpy.

'Uhh…' I started, trying to avert my gaze away. 'You should probably go with wearing leggings, for your own sake.'

She rolled her violet eyes. 'Oh all right.' she pouted. Lenalee went back into the fitting room, and hastily came out in her uniform. 'I'll be right back.' She hurried off into another section of the store to find some leggings.

'Well, I'm gonna go find that pirate costume.' declared Lavi, and took off into the aisle. I decided to search for the clown costume I wanted as well. I looked along the shelves and hangers for the costume, but when I found it, it was all the way at the top shelf.

I looked around for something like a ladder or a hook. Leaning against the wall was a 10-foot hook. I picked it up, hoping Arystar wouldn't mind me using it for a couple of seconds.

The hook picked up the hanger with the clown costume, and I brought it down. Without hesitation I gingerly placed the hook back in its spot, and made my way to the change room.

CLANG!

That sounded bad. I stopped in my tracks, turning to find the hook lying on the floor. Nothing broke, to my relief, but there were several items lying on the concrete floor. Arystar came as quickly as he could to see what happened.

'What happened?' he asked.

I turned to him. 'I'm sorry!' I apologized. 'I just used it for a minute and put it back quickly, but it must've fell…'

'Ah, well, no harm done.' He started to pick up the fallen items on the floor. 'But just let me know next time you need something.'

'Okay. Again, I'm sorry.' I told him.

He nodded and continued with cleaning up the items. I bolted to the fitting room, and locked the door shut behind me. I changed out of my uniform and tried the costume on. It looked good, but I felt that it was missing something. I walked out and examined myself in the large mirror against the wall.

'That looks good.' said Lenalee, coming out of her fitting room. This time, she was wearing black knee-high leggings with her costume, which looked much better and more appropriate.

'Thank you.' I smiled, and turned back to the mirror. 'Although I feel like it needs something else...'

Lenalee contemplated about it for a moment. She approached me and lifted the hair on the back of my head up, to my surprise. I was about to question what in the world she was doing, but then I realized what she was thinking.

'Well, for a wild and crazy costume, you should have wild-looking hair, right?' she proposed.

I nodded in agreement. 'You're right.' I replied. She let go of my hair; I brushed it back with my hand to neaten it again.

'Well, we're not going to actually go out. We're a little old for that now.' Lenalee sighed. She seemed a bit depressed about it.

'Then why did we come here?' I asked.

She smirked. 'Arystar has the best costumes in town, Allen. Since 2 years ago, we've always came here during October.' she told me. 'Although we don't come to buy costumes anymore, we do come by to say hello and to try out the costumes for fun.'

I looked in the mirror again. Now that I knew what I was missing, I kind of wanted to keep the costume. But Mana wanted me to help out with the next circus performance in November, so it gave me an alternative reason why I should buy it.

'I'm going to buy this.' I stated.

Lenalee gazed at me curiously. 'You're going out?' she assumed.

'No, no.' I quickly replied, shaking my head. 'My dad asked me to take part in one of the circus' performances in November, and I need a new costume. So yeah.'

'Oh, I see.' Her face lit up after I said that. What is she thinking now, I wondered. I went back into the fitting room, locked the door, and began unclipping my cloak.

'So what do you do at the circus, Allen?' asked Lenalee.

'I do different things.' I told her. I removed the rest of the costume and threw it on the floor. 'This time I'm on the tightrope.'

I became startled when I heard someone bellow like a pirate. The scream coming from Lenalee was so high-pitched and loud it was piercing. Then I heard Lavi laughing. Of course. Only _he_ would truly get into character like that.

'Lavi!'

Lavi continued to laugh. 'Oh man, I got you good!' he declared. I could easily predict that Lenalee was pouting at him now.

After I got back into my school uniform, I stepped out to find Lavi in a pirate outfit. It suits him, I thought. I was being both honest and sarcastic there, for the record.

'Aw, did I miss seeing your costume?' Lavi wondered, frowning. I shrugged, somewhat indicating that he was right.

Lenalee pulled out her phone and slid it open, quickly closing it again. 'We only have 15 minutes until the next bell rings.' she informed us. 'You should probably get out of that costume so we can get going.'

'Kay.' Lavi walked back into the fitting room. I could hear the rustling of clothes afterwards.

I marched towards the cash register, where Arystar was reading a novel. He saw me coming and put the book down on the counter.

'You're buying that?'

'Actually, can I put it on hold?' I requested. 'I don't have the money right now, but I can come by later after school to pick it up.'

'Of course.' I handed him the costume; he took out a tag and wrote my name down on it, putting it on the rack behind him. 'I'll keep it on hold until tomorrow, if you don't show up today.'

I thanked him and waited for Lenalee and Lavi to come to the front entrance. They showed up a couple of minutes later, and we left together after saying goodbye to Arystar.

'What are you guys doing for Halloween?' Lavi inquired.

'I have a gymnastics tournament that day.' Lenalee replied.

'Nothing really.' I said.

Lavi sighed, seemingly in deep thought. 'Hey, Allen?'

'Yeah?'

'You wanna hang out that day? Seeing as we don't have anything to do.'

I averted my eyes to him. 'And do what?'

'Umm…' Guess he didn't think about it enough, I said to myself. 'We could go see that new movie everyone's been talking about. "Bloody Halloween" I think it's called?' he suggested.

Lenalee made a face. 'Ugh… I wouldn't want to go, even if I was available.' she stated. 'It's too gory for my liking.'

'Isn't that not out yet?' I remarked. The TV ads _did _say it wouldn't be out until October 29th. Oh, wait.

'Yeah, but it'll be out on Halloween.' he said. 'So we'll be able to go.'

I wasn't too fond of scary movies, but it was true that I had nothing better to do. It's just a silly movie, I thought. I figured that I might as well give it a chance.

'Okay.' I answered. 'Sounds like a plan.'

The school building came into view. The clock outside showed that it was only 5 minutes until the next bell rang. We waved to Lenalee as she left for her next class, while Lavi and I headed for gym. Mind you, I did say that I wasn't ready to participate in gym yet: doctor's orders. You did remember that, right?

As we entered the boys' change room, Lavi stayed behind to get ready. I just walked straight through, trying not to look at anyone. The gym was empty since everyone was still getting ready. I took a seat on one of the bleachers when Mr. Chan came out.

'Good to see you, Walker.' he greeted. 'How's your arm feeling today?'

'Just another month and it'll be all healed.'

'Excellent.' He grinned. 'By the way, we won't be using those ropes again anytime soon. We got in trouble for not having anything out in case someone fell from the ropes.'

I looked up at the suspension beams. The workers didn't come until after school ended, but you could tell they were there since there was a long ladder leaning against the wall and some other equipment left behind by them. They were currently in the middle of taking down the beam that my rope was hanging off of before.

'Are you planning on using them again?' I asked.

'Not until the end of this semester.' Mr. Chan replied. 'After the repairs are done, we have to meet with the main school board to file some papers that'll give us permission to use them again.'

'What're you guys talking about?'

Lavi appeared from the change room. Mr. Chan explained the current situation with the suspension beams once again to Lavi.

'Sucks that we can't use them.' said Lavi, who clearly sounded like he didn't really care about whether they used them or not. I had a feeling he didn't really like the ropes. 'But it's good that they're taking responsibility for this whole thing.'

'Yeah.' I agreed.

Lavi turned back to Mr. Chan. 'So are we starting the soccer unit today?' he asked.

'Yep.' Mr. Chan handed Lavi some keys. 'Can you go open the storage room and grab the big bag of soccer balls?'

'Yes sir!' And with that, Lavi took off.

'If you'd like, Walker,' Mr. Chan began. 'You can be the referee. It'll give you something to do since your arm's out of order.'

'Sounds good.' I said as I leapt off the bleachers. 'But can you explain to me what I should do or look for during the game?'

Everyone was eventually out on the gym floor and practicing kicking as Mr. Chan explained to me about the ref's job. When he was finished, he blew the whistle and divided everyone up into two teams that would alternate players every 5 minutes. After everyone was in position, I walked up to the two players at centre court and dropped the ball when the whistle blew again.

Then Halloween came.

* * *

And that ends chapter 2! What'll happen at the movies? (no, we're not _there_ yet, eager beavers) And will Allen's arm heal by November's circus performance?

Find out when chapter 3 comes out!

P.S; expect Kanda to play a lead role in the next chapter!

Until next time,  
LMC


	3. November

Hey everyone! I'm so so sooo sorry this is so late. I put this off so many times that it's not even funny. BUT IT'S HERE NOW! And now I can chill for a bit before getting to work on chapter 4. By the way, it was a bit hard to describe everything without looking like an idiot, so that's why it took so long.

Anyways, behold chapter 3!

* * *

'You did _what_?' I shouted.

Lavi grimaced as he stopped at the light. 'I invited Yu to come with us to the movies.' he reluctantly repeated. 'Yu is my friend too, Allen.'

Fucking great idea, Lavi. 'But of all people, you had to invite _him_?'

The car turned left at William Drive. 'I was only being considerate. He had nothing to do today either. So please, please don't kill each other while we're there.' Lavi sighed. He sounded like he was almost begging me.

Immediately after the first day of school, Kanda and I only continued to butt heads over everything, every time we conversed. If we passed by the gym with its doors wide open and he was in there with the fencing team, we would glower nastily at each other if our eyes met. If either one of us said the wrong thing it we were ever talking to each other, the arguments would almost be on the verge of turning into an all-out brawl. Just the thought of him joining us made my blood boil. Yet, I bit my tongue to refrain myself from objecting.

'Why didn't you tell me earlier that you were bringing him?' I interrogated.

'Because I knew you wouldn't want to go if I told you.' he replied. His face almost made him look like he was going to be sick. 'And… I didn't tell him about you coming either.'

'Hypocrite.' I muttered.

'I know, I know, what I'm doing contradicts what I said 2 months ago about lying,' Lavi started. 'But that kind of lying was to a higher degree.'

My eyes were flashing madly. 'A higher degree?'

'Look, just pretend he's not even there. And he'll pretend you're not there either.' said Lavi, trying to drop the lying thing. 'If you can both just do that for me, we can have a decent time at the movies, at least. And no one will be killed.'

I slumped back in my seat and scowled. Minutes later we pulled up to a smallish, plain-looking house. There was nothing much to it except a grand maple tree sitting right in the middle of the front lawn.

'Be right back, Allen.' Lavi got out of the car and slammed the door shut. I watched as he jogged up the porch steps and knocked on the door. I decided now would be a good time to cover my head up with my hood. Kanda opened the door, looking rather annoyed, but expecting to see Lavi. The door was left hanging open while Lavi walked back down the steps. Kanda shrugged his coat on at the door.

Kanda stepped out of the house and locked it, placing something like a key in his coat pocket. Lavi walked with him to the car until Kanda noticed me and stopped.

'Why is bean sprout in the car?' I heard him ask Lavi. Lavi scratched his head at first, hesitant to reply.

'He's coming with us.' Lavi responded bluntly.

'Are you retarded? You know I hate him.' Kanda stated, backing away.

Lavi stepped forwards a bit. 'It's just this one time, Yu. Can you please not try to kill each other for once?'

'No.'

If Kanda's hair could flare upwards and turn gold when he's angry, he'd probably make a great character for that Kung Fu cartoon show, I thought to myself while grinning slightly.

'Just pretend he's not there, and he'll pretend you're not there either. If you can do that, then we can have a decent time.' Lavi said, which was the exact same thing he said to me minutes ago.

Kanda's expression turned sourer. 'Not a fucking chance in hell.'

'C'mon Yu, please?'

'No.'

Lavi shrugged and turned towards the car. 'To think Yu Kanda would refuse to go out because someone he hates with a passion is in the car.' Lavi said; I could spot a smirk forming on his face. 'In reality, you're an 18-year-old who is now to be considered an adult, but you're not any more mature than a bratty 5-year-old kid. I'm surprised that the bars haven't rejected entry to you yet for being deemed a minor-'

'One more word, retard,' Kanda interjected, who was now painstakingly livid; I had a hard time trying to hold in my laughter at their whole conversation. 'And I will cut you up until you're nothing left but a flesh sack sitting dead in a pool of blood.'

I bet you anything he would've been the perfect guy to act as the antagonist in Bloody Halloween if they hadn't found one beforehand.

Lavi turned back to him with that same smirk on his face. 'So you'll come with us?' he repeated. 'You did say you had nothing to do today over the phone.'

'This better be the only time you drag us both out with you, shithead.' Kanda shoved Lavi aside and opened the back car door. A loud slam filled my ears after he got in the back seat. Lavi came back into the car, and drove off.

I flashed a glance at Kanda; he was staring out the window without saying a word. I suppose it was best if no one said anything.

Lavi nudged me out of the blue. I looked up at him.

'You okay?' he mouthed. I guess he thought it was best to stay silent too. I nodded, and in response he smiled.

It didn't take long for us to get to the movie theatre. It was found in the middle of a plaza, with a large grocery store and several other stores surrounding it. The building itself was huge, holding about 14 theatres with two spotlights hooked up near the grand entrance.

We walked inside to find a large crowd; I guessed there were a lot of horror movie lovers that wanted to see Bloody Halloween. Lavi and I groaned, imagining how long we were probably going to take. Then I noticed that Kanda was gone.

I nudged Lavi's arm. 'Hey, where's Kanda?'

He looked around, trying to spot him among the crowd. 'Must've took off.' he assumed. Good.

About 10 minutes later, we were approaching the front desk; the groups in front of us were taking far too long for our liking. I glanced at each of the registers in hopes of finding one that wasn't so busy, but my hopes were in vain. I felt a finger tap my shoulder, and turned to Lavi.

'Let's go.' he told me.

'Wait, are we leaving?' I wondered, sounding a bit confused. He shook his head.

'No, we're going to the movie.' He took my wrist and dragged me towards the ticket taker. Kanda was standing in the line to get through. He spotted us coming.

'What took you so long?' he grumbled.

'Dude, lack of communication? You didn't tell us where you were going or that you already got the tickets!' Lavi exclaimed. 'I'm just glad I found you before you went in without us!'

Kanda huffed irritably in reply. I swear I didn't see him holding anything when we went in, I thought.

'I hate to ask, but how exactly did you get the tickets so quickly?' I asked him. He glared at me quickly, but reached into his pocket and held up a small card between his fingers.

_"Quiktix: get your tickets, without the wait!"_

'I… see.' I muttered. He placed the card back in his pocket and approached the ticket taker with the tickets in hand. The man ripped them and handed the larger halves back to Kanda, letting us in after. Kanda whispered something to Lavi and left in a flash.

'Where's he going?' I asked.

'He's just going to the theatre now. And he told me what he wanted.' replied Lavi.

'To eat?'

'Yeah.'

'He could've just said so out loud.'

Lavi chuckled a bit. 'Yu's just probably in a bad mood, since you're here. I think he just wants to be left alone for a bit.'

Sorry, wasn't my choice to be born into this world. Lavi ruffled my hair. 'Don't take any offense to it though; he does that a lot with many other people as well.' he told me. 'Now then, let's go grab some snacks.'

'Can I get an extra-large bag of popcorn?'

Lavi gave me an incredulous look. 'You're really going to eat all that just for one movie?' he asked.

'And a large soda?'

Luckily we were able to buy everything before the movie started; Lavi got me the popcorn and soda, which I did thank him dearly for; he got himself a small box of nachos, and I presumed that the tempura soba was for Kanda (yes, they really were serving that at the theatre). Lavi showed the tickets again to the ticket taker, and we entered the theatre. He quickly spotted Kanda sitting near the front of the theatre, and gave him the box of soba. Though we tried to convince him to sit farther away from the screen, he made us aware that he was fine by giving us one of his death glares. Lavi and I continued our way up the stairs and found a pair of seats near the back.

'You nervous?' he inquired, smirking a bit.

'Nah.' I lied. 'I've seen scary movies before.'

Another incredulous look. 'Allen. The corner of your mouth is twitching.' Lavi pointed out. Shit. 'Are you sure you're okay?'

'Totally! Probably just a muscle spasm or something.'

Lavi still seemed unconvinced, but he shrugged and turned back towards the screen. Hey, I didn't want to chicken out in front of him. It's just a silly movie, right?

The lights dimmed down until it was barely pitch-black in the room. Then the projector played the movie, which started off with an overview of a quaint little neighbourhood. There was an adult man who was getting his daughter ready for Halloween and helping her into her costume, and she was really happy and excited for trick-or-treating. Then it moved on to a different scene with a different family, where a young boy who was getting ready to go out, and he overhears his siblings talking about a strange legend of a man who was tricked on Halloween, but the trick ended up being deadlier than it was planned and killed the man. So every Halloween the ghost of the man sets up deadly tricks around the neighbourhood and his abandoned house to avenge his own death, whether it's taking the form of an ugly monster taking the kids away so that they're never heard from again, or setting up traps in haunted houses that would kill a person if they were triggered.

A voice startled me. 'You doing okay?'

I turned to Lavi, who was giving me a small, innocent grin. I nodded and replied with, 'Yeah, I'm fine.' His grin grew a bit wider as he continued to watch the movie.

The boy was now outside and going to different houses throughout the neighbourhood, then some eerie music began playing, and the boy spots a strange figure lurking in the shadows between some houses, but it disappears. My eyes widened a bit, but I knew the worst was yet to come.

As he's walking he finds the girl from before, who is actually his friend, and begins walking with her. They come across a haunted house, which the girl wants to go in; the boy tries to dissuade her from going as he remembers the legend that his siblings were talking about, yet he still follows her inside. The boy notices the shape again, which disappears again behind the closet door.

'Did you see that?' the boy asked her. She shook her head. The boy, who was dressed as a baseball player, raised his bat and told the girl to stay back as he approached the closet with caution. His hand slithered toward the doorknob and grasped it firmly; I clutched my pant leg in fear, wondering whether or not the figure was going to pop out or something. The boy swung the door open, which made me jump, but there was nothing behind it. Suddenly the front door behind the kids closed by itself.

'How cliché.' Lavi commented with a bored tone in his voice.

'Y… yeah…'

My full attention was given to the big screen, but I could see Lavi glance at me at the corner of my eye. He looked more concerned now, and I was certain that he could tell how I was actually feeling as I watched the movie.

After the two kids were locked in the house, they look around until they reach a kitchen, where they see a grumpy-looking man walking around. The boy calls out to him and asks him what he's doing, and in response he turned his faceless head. The boy rubs his eyes and looks again, but he's gone. Suddenly the girl screams and clings onto the boy's arm, trying to get away from a rather large spider crawling along the floor. The boy crushes it with his foot, but then another one popped out of nowhere. Then another. And another. Pretty soon the whole kitchen floor was carpeted with spiders.

Both kids were almost paralyzed with fear and the great number of spiders, but then they run away upstairs. The boy looks back and sees that the spiders are chasing them, so he turns and drags both the girl and himself into a room and locks the door behind him. Tears start falling from the girl's face and she covers her eyes. I clutched onto the armrests of my seat in fear of what would happen next.

The door opens a crack as the boy looks out to see if the spiders are still around. 'They're gone.' says the boy, pulling the girl back out. But then a floorboard breaks and his foot falls through. The girl tries to help by getting him out, but now something is dragging his foot down. A coal-black human hand.

I yelped when something suddenly coiled around my neck.

'Allen.'

… It was just Lavi.

Lavi chuckled a bit. 'Allen, you look as if you're almost to the point of tears.' he noted.

I realized what he was saying after I rubbed my eyes. They were watery. I turned a bit red.

'You could've told me beforehand that you weren't into scary movies. I would've picked a different one.'

I felt a bit guilty for not saying something earlier, but truth be told, I guess I just didn't want to swallow my pride to refuse going to a scary movie. Even after I heard the unexpected news that Kanda was going to join us. 'I'm sorry.' I apologized.

'You don't need to apologize, Allen. I should've asked you beforehand if you even liked these kinds of movies.' He smiled genuinely. 'Do you want to leave?'

'No, no! I'll stay…' I replied, waving my hands in front of me. 'Besides, it's just a movie, right? It's not real…'

I managed to make it through the rest of the movie, though I needed to cover my eyes at some parts. I had to admit; it wasn't as scary as I actually thought it was going to be, seeing as Lavi's constant criticism of how unoriginal it was sort of reassured me.

As the ending credits rolled across the screen, the lights slowly brightened up again. I stood up with Lavi and searched the theatre for Kanda, but he was gone. Lavi pulled out his cell phone and quickly texted "Hey, where r u?" to him. A few minutes after we left the theatre, Lavi pulled out his phone again. I looked over his shoulder to read Kanda's reply.

"At bar. Got bored halfway through movie."

'Somehow, I felt that that's something he would do.' I commented.

Lavi closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. 'Well, we better go get him before he starts causing trouble.'

There was a bar located on the second level of the theatre. You could see inside it from the outside, with the interior glass walls. Lavi quickly showed his ID to the bouncer and went inside; I had to stay outside since I was underage. I watched from the inside what was happening. I then saw Kanda freaking out and backing away from a couple of girls from around the corner of the room. The bouncer looked inside as well.

'Stay away from me!' I heard him shriek. The girls started giggling at his reaction, which probably further provoked him. His face flushed a bit as he continued to yell, until Lavi grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him near the doors. The girls looked a bit confused.

'What the hell are you doing?' Lavi questioned, looking somewhat annoyed.

Kanda swatted his hand away and barged out the doors to the first floor. Lavi sighed and came back out as well.

'What was that?' I asked him, feeling like laughing.

He smirked a bit. 'Yu's a bit shy around girls. They were probably just flirting with him and he didn't know how to react properly.' he replied.

'Excuse me?'

The two girls from inside approached us. One was blonde, the other was a brunette. 'Was that your friend?' the blonde asked.

I pointed to Lavi. 'His friend. Not mine.'

They both started to giggle again. 'We didn't mean to make him mad or anything. We were just telling him how cute he was.' the brunette explained, grinning a bit.

'Ah, I see. Sorry about him, he's kind of the shy type.' Lavi laughed.

'No problem. By the way,' the brunette came up to me and pinched my cheek. 'You're kinda cute, too.' she smiled.

They giggled again as my face turned red before going back into the bar. Lavi pouted a little. 'Lucky. Not even a wink or anything for me.'

* * *

'You glad to have that cast off?'

'You bet. I can finally use both hands again.' I said, rubbing my arm.

Cloud cracked a small grin on her face as she brushed my hair upwards. Before you ask, this woman is Cloud Nyne, the circus' animal tamer and assistant hairdresser/makeup artist. She usually seems distant at first, but she's actually really nice to talk to. She took the hair gel and ran it through my hair to make it stand up.

'That's good to hear. We're glad you came in for our acrobat. Apparently he's going through something rather serious.' She sat back in her chair and wheeled it around so that she was sitting in front of me. Cloud opened up her kit and took out a bottle of pure-white foundation. 'Plus, it's been a long time since we last saw you.'

'I know.' I closed my eyes to let her put the foundation on my eyelids. 'I miss everyone around here. But I'm going to a public school these days, so I don't have the time to come in.' I grimaced.

'I heard from your father. He's also been telling me you're doing pretty well.' Cloud finished with the foundation and screwed the cap back on. The next thing she got was some eyeliner. Before I could reply, she told me to look up and started painting my waterlines.

'I am, so far. I've been getting a lot of help with my studies from my senior and a girl friend of mine.'

'A girlfriend?' she joked.

'Y-you know what I mean, Cloud.' I said. 'Besides, her brother would probably kill anyone who tries to hit on her.'

Cloud moved onto painting my upper lids. 'She sounds pretty, then.'

'Well, she is. But with her brother being the principal and all-'

'Ah, gotcha.' She put away the eyeliner and got out a palette of eyeshadow with a purplish colour scheme. I closed my eyes again. 'So is your senior a girl as well?'

'No, no. He's a guy.' I told her.

'I see. Is he cute?' she asked.

'Well, I suppo-' Wait a second. Don't want to give the wrong impression. 'From a girl's point of view, I guess he is.'

'What's he like?'

'He can be fairly annoying at times, but overall… he's pretty fun to be around. I'm really glad we're friends.' I smiled. 'He's also really smart, and surprisingly wise for someone his age. He's helped me so much to get through the school year so far.'

Cloud put away the eyeshadow. 'Sounds like you really like him.' she noted, brushing a black diamond on my lips.

'Well I do, but y-you know, just as a friend.' I told her. Why did I sound so uncertain?

Another small smiled spread across her face. She put the brush back on the counter and turned my chair towards the mirror. 'Well, I'm all done. What do you think?'

'It looks great, Cloud.' I beamed. It didn't look too clown-like, it was more serious-looking rather than humorous. I felt that it suited the costume well.

Cloud nodded and packed her makeup supplies back into its kit. She glanced at her watch. 'Your performance is coming up. Best get the rest of your costume on and head to the platform.'

'Right.' I stood up and took my cloak off the back of my chair, and threw it on. It made a faint click as the buckle on the strap met its other half. After I pulled my gloves on, I made my way through the acrobat's corridor, which was a hall made so that the performer could get to a secret ladder and make their way up to the platform, unnoticed by the crowd. The area between the audience and the roof of the tent had lights shining down everywhere, but they were so bright that you couldn't see higher up, so the acrobats could stay hidden in the darkness until their cue.

A member of stage crew was waiting at the bottom of the ladder. He hooked me up to some lines in case I fell from the ladder and signalled for me to climb up quickly before it was my turn. As I went up, I looked down at the crowd, wowing at the number of people who came today. I continued to climb until I reached a part of the ladder that you had to use like monkey bars in order to get to the platform. I swung myself from bar to bar, and let go above the platform, unhooking myself afterwards.

'And now, ladies and gentlemen!' the ringmaster boomed. Many lights were dimmed at that moment and the fog machines started up below, which gave the room an air of mystery. I noticed my partner, Adrian, waiting patiently on the other platform. She was wearing an outfit and cloak similar to mine, in order for us to match. She glanced at me and waved quickly before the ringmaster continued.

'The darkness has arisen in the circus, but that won't stop us from putting on a great act! Please give a big welcome to the masters of the night, the champions of the dark-'

I quickly looked at Adrian. She signalled for me to grab the swing, which I did, and began counting down with her fingers.

3… 2… 1.

At the same time, we both swung down. 'The one, and only, _Demon Duo_!'

As I let go of the swing, the spotlights were shone in our direction, and caught us in the light during the middle of a flip. The audience cheered wildly, which really lifted my spirits. I reached out for the next swing and grabbed it, turning myself over so that I was hanging from my knees, then it swung back.

'Catch!'

Adrian jumped off her swing, and I caught her just in time with both hands. She looked up at me and grinned before I threw back into the air, where she grabbed the other swing, performed a double somersault off it, and landed on the tightrope platform. I jumped off as well and landed on the opposite one. A roar of applause from the audience arose right after.

It then went eerily quiet, and some soft, mysterious music began playing throughout the circus. This is according to plan, just so you know. I cartwheeled onto the rope and did a quick backflip, then turned and held Adrian by her hands, as she balanced upside down above me. I leaned backwards and she fell back on her feet behind me, and then lifted me up in the air by my hands.

'You're doing great so far.' Adrian whispered. Her arms were wobbling a bit as she held me up.

'Thanks.' I beamed. 'I hope I'm not too heavy for you.'

'No, no. You're actually a lot lighter than I imagined.'

She quickly straightened her arms up and launched me into the air. But as I was landing, my foot missed by an inch and I ended up falling off. I heard the audience gasp as I grabbed the rope with my hand and swung myself around and back onto the rope.

'Nice save.' Adrian smirked. She jumped towards me and I caught her, swung her behind me, and she did a pirouette in the air before landing back on the rope.

The rest of the performance went swimmingly, earning us both a standing ovation from the audience. I felt so ecstatic; the whistles and cheering was music to my ears. We made our grand exit by making a big leap into the darkness, in which the lights were dimmed, and we both landed into slanted nets that no one could see. I saw a couple of members of stage crew waiting to help me down from the net and get me back into the dressing room.

I slid down and they supported me as I landed, and escorted me back. When I got there, I found Mana and Cloud waiting patiently for me. They quickly spotted me coming in.

'Hey Allen. That was a brilliant job up there.' Mana beamed proudly.

I couldn't help but smile back at him. 'Thanks, Mana.' He gave me a fatherly hug, and ruffled my hair.

'Hey, Allen.' said a voice.

I let go of Mana and turned to find Adrian at the door. 'It was a real pleasure performing with you. And I must thank you for taking Bart's place today.'

'Oh, it was no trouble at all.' I told her sincerely. 'I'm always around if I'm needed here. But I'm usually busy with school.'

She giggled. 'Are you going to be around for the after-performance party?'

'Actually-' Mana interrupted suddenly. 'Allen has some plans tonight.'

Wait, what? 'I do?' I asked.

'You have some visitors outside waiting for you.' he said.

I felt a bit annoyed that he made plans without telling me, but I complied. 'Well, I'll see you later then Adrian, Cloud.'

They waved as I followed Mana out into the front lobby of the circus. We weaved our way through the crowds and endured the blasting music coming from the speakers.

'Allen! That was amazing!' I heard a familiar voice squeal.

I spun around to see who it was, only to be jumped by Lenalee. 'I never knew you could perform like that!' she sang.

'L-Lenalee?' I then remembered that she _did_ ask me about the circus last month. She must've asked Mana if she could get tickets. 'Well, I have been working here for most of my life.' I told her.

Lenalee promptly pulled out her phone with the shiny silver cross and slid it open. 'I recorded the whole thing.' she smiled. 'You looked so amazing from the audience!'

She stood beside me and showed me the whole clip of the performance, from start to finish. I had to admit, it did look a lot cooler from the audience's perspective. 'Wow…' I breathed. I then recalled something Mana said earlier. 'Dad, you said there were _visitors_ waiting for me, right?'

'That I did.'

'Lavi and Komui are down at the bathroom. I think brother got food poisoning from that hot dog…' Lenalee informed us, seeming rather uncomfortable about it. It was awkwardly silent between the 3 of us for a moment, until Lavi and Komui suddenly appeared.

'Hey, Allen! That was so spectacular, I mean- I'm at a total loss for words to describe it! The special effects used-' His green eye was almost shining from the astonishment. It became too hard to hide my bashfulness any longer; my cheeks reddened as a result.

I glanced at Komui, who was probably as green as a frog. 'Are you doing okay, Mr. Lee?' I questioned. 'You don't look that great.'

He groaned, but stood up after. 'I'll be fine. And you don't need to call me Mr. Lee outside of school property. Komui is just fine.' he informed me.

'Ah, I see.' I stretched my arms out above me in attempt to relax and rid myself of the remaining anxiety. 'So why did you come anyway, Komui?'

'I have my reasons.' he responded, adjusting his glasses.

'It was just me and Lenalee who were supposed to go but, Komui became too over-protective and decided to come along so we "wouldn't try anything silly".' Lavi cleared up.

Komui shot him a harmless glare, and then turned back to me. 'I'll be going home myself when we leave the circus, but I can trust you all to go out together as long as Mr. Walker here is with you.'

I nodded in reply, while Lenalee just sighed at rolled her eyes behind her brother's back. Komui quickly told his sister to come back home safe, and made his way out the doors to the parking lot.

'Well, we should get going then, to wherever you guys plan on taking me.' I said, facing the direction of the exit.

'Hold on, aren't you going to wash your makeup off and stuff?' Lavi quickly asked me.

That would actually be a good idea, I thought. 'I guess I should do that.' I laughed nervously. 'I hope you don't mind waiting for me to get that done…'

'That's okay, Allen. We still have plenty of time left before we need to head to Luigi's.'

Luigi's? Aw man, that's the best Italian restaurant in my opinion. Good pick. 'Ah, great. I'll be back out as fast as I can. Just wait here.'

'I'll come with you, Allen. You might get lost on the way.' Mana chuckled. I heard Lenalee's silent giggle even among the noise.

Ah, fathers.

* * *

And there we have it! Hope you enjoyed and I hope you enjoyed seeing Kanda as a main role in this chapter!

Yours truly,  
LMC


	4. December

Whew, alright! Chapter 4 is finally finished everyone! 5 might take a bit longer since I've got exams and final projects coming up soon!

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

'Hey Yu.'

Kanda put down his book, but made no eye contact with Lavi. 'What?'

'Knock knock.'

I held my book up higher to hide the amused grin I had on my face. Kanda sighed. 'Don't start-'

'I said _knock knock._' Lavi pouted. I could only imagine what was going to happen next.

'… Who's there?' Kanda asked, glaring at him harmlessly.

'Banana.' Oh god.

'Banana who?'

'Knock knock.'

Kanda furrowed his eyebrows. 'You just asked me that!' Has he honestly never heard the corniest joke in the history of mankind?

'_Knock knock._' I decided to get up and pretend to go get another book, in case this turned violent. I needed to let out a bit of laughter anyhow. I continued to witness their conversation from behind a shelf.

'Who's there?' he asked again, sounding more impatient.

'Banana.' Lavi repeated.

'Banana who?' Kanda said through his teeth.

'Knock knock.'

Kanda slammed his fist against the back of the couch. 'Who the fuck is there?' he demanded.

Lavi's grin spread from ear to ear. 'Yu.' Oh, now this is different. Though it was pretty obvious what the answer was going to be.

'… Yu who?'

Lavi bent over the back of the couch and looked at him playfully. 'Are Yu glad I didn't say "banana"?' he grinned.

WHACK!

'Moron.' Kanda dropped his book on the cushion and left. I came back giggling like an idiot at Lavi rubbing his face. I sat in Kanda's place, while Lavi jumped over the back of the couch and sat beside me.

'You'd think a dude could take a joke.' Lavi pouted.

'I think it'd be obvious from a first glance that Kanda isn't really the humorous type.' I smirked, opening a new book. 'You're such a tool sometimes.'

'But you guys love me 'cause of that.'

I averted my attention from the book in my hands and gave Lavi a blank look, who just had the same cheeky expression on his face. I could only laugh quietly.

'Define love.'

Lavi's cheeky face disappeared quickly. 'Aw, Allen! That was low blow.' he whined.

The PA system rang throughout the school. Everyone stopped talking to listen; I put my book down.

'Attention all Blackwood students!' said a female voice. 'We have a couple of announcements to make! Last night, the school's fencing team played a hard match against A.A. Brown's team, and emerged victorious! The MVPs named for last night were second-year Fen Cheng and returning third-year Yu Kanda! Great job guys!'

I heard some shouting and cheering at one corner of the library, and the librarian immediately went to go shut them up. 'Kanda's a returning third year?' I asked Lavi.

He nodded. 'Yup. I am too, actually.'

'You are?' I exclaimed quietly. 'Why are you guys still here, then?'

'I graduated last year, but I'm taking a year-long program here that'll allow me to attend post-secondary institutions across the world, and grant me a scholarship if I have an average of over 90.' Lavi explained. 'So since I'm still here, I'm still being treated as a third-year.'

'Oh.' I said. 'But what about Kanda?'

'He failed half of his classes. So he has to take another year to compensate.'

'Our next announcement regards the winter formal coming up in January!' the voice continued. 'Tickets are being sold in the front foyer for the next two weeks at 150 pounds! That includes the limousine ride, food, and the hotel room for one night! Alcohol and drugs will not be permitted! And that concludes these announcements.'

'Damn.' Lavi laughed.

'What?' I asked.

'Usually when we go to formal, I bring a bit of wine to celebrate. Guess they really went through with tightening the "smuggling security".'

'… "Smuggling security"?'

'It's those guys who search you for stuff like marijuana and beer, if you were planning on getting high or drunk during the event.' he clarified. 'So you gonna go?'

It sounds tempting, for sure. But...

'I don't think I'm going to.' I replied, frowning a bit.

Lavi sat up straighter. 'Why not? You'll have a blast!'

'My dad and I don't have that much money. So I'm not going to make him spend money on me like that.'

Lavi seemed a bit surprised, but he then had a genuine smile on his face. 'You've got a good heart, Allen.' he complimented. I smiled sheepishly back at him. 'But I think your dad would want you to have fun, too. There's no harm in asking.'

'Well…' I suppose he's right, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to go. 'I guess I can try.' I answered.

He put a hand on my shoulder and shook it lightly. 'That's the spirit!'

I glanced at the clock above the library doors. Only 8 minutes left until the end of lunch. I then looked at the calendar by the librarian. The x's of each passed day stopped at the 16th. Lavi looked over there too.

'Can you believe Christmas is only a week and a half away?' he sang. 'So what are your holiday plans?'

'Well, my birthday is on Christmas, so I'm sure I'm gonna be celebrating that as well.' I responded.

Lavi's mouth gaped slightly in amazement. 'No way! You're so lucky! What are you going to ask for your birthday?'

His attention was totally set on my reply. I hadn't really thought about it, to be honest. What do I want, I asked myself. 'I guess… a new bike?'

'A bike?'

I nodded. 'I've memorized the way to school now, so I wanna get a bike so I can save Mana the drive.' I told him.

His expression became incredulous. 'You sure? He did say you had a bad sense of direction and all-'

'It's not _that _bad!'

The first bell for period 4 rang loudly; telling us it was time to go. I put the book back on the shelf and hurried to class with Lavi.

Now normally, I would have gym at this point. But I wanted to skip ahead this time to the class after that: Science. After gym, I would change back into my regular uniform, and Lavi and I would part to go to our separate classes. The class was upstairs in room 239, and we had two teachers: Mr. Gill and Mr. Dopp. They're a very eccentric duo, not to mention really nice too.

I stepped into the room, usually being one of the first students to arrive. The two became aware of me coming in.

'Hey, Allen!' Mr. Gill greeted. I smiled delightfully at them. 'You're gonna love this lesson today; we're starting chemistry!'

I took a seat at my desk. 'Chemistry?' I repeated.

'Yup! The periodic table, different chemicals and their reactions; it'll be a very "hands-on" unit, so not a lot of writing.' said Mr. Dopp.

'Sounds like fun.' I smiled. No one really liked writing, so this'll be an interesting change.

The rest of the class came in within minutes. Once everyone was seated and quiet, Mr. Gill began the lesson.

'So today, we'll be starting our chemistry unit. First and foremost, we'll be handing out two sheets: a permission form for the use of the chemistry equipment in the room, and another sheet of the periodic table of elements. Make sure you get your permission form signed by a parent or legal guardian so you won't have to miss out on anything.'

Mr. Dopp handed me the two sheets. I folded up my permission form and slid it in my back pocket, and the other sheet I placed in my binder.

Mr. Gill then attempted to reach a pull-down chart, but he was too short, so Mr. Dopp had to get it for him. It was a bigger version of the sheet of the periodic table.

'We want everyone to write above the top of each given column the group name of the elements in that column,' Mr Gill used a metre stick and directed our attention to the first column. 'The group of elements here are called "alkali metals". They are highly reactive, so do not try mixing these metals with other chemicals: we'll show you what can happen.'

He turned to Mr. Dopp. 'Could you grab the lithium from the cupboard?' he asked. Mr. Dopp nodded and walked over to the cupboards; opening one and taking out a small bottle of a silvery metal. Meanwhile, Mr. Gill got a petri dish of water and placed it in a small safety chamber.

'So add a bit of lithium to a small amount of water-'

Mr. Dopp used a pair of small tongs to pick up the metal and placed it in the petri dish. Then they quickly shut the chamber, making the petri dish visible only through an unbreakable window. Nothing happened at first, but I knew something was going to happen.

BANG!

Everyone jumped at the sudden explosion of the lithium; the petri dish didn't break, surprisingly, but the whole chamber had pieces of lithium everywhere. Mr. Gill pulled a glove on, opened the chamber, and took out the petri dish to show everyone. 'Lithium is an alkali metal. Along with potassium, sodium, and any other metal in the first column; they will explode when they come into contact with water. Write that down everyone!'

I quietly repeated what he said as I wrote it down. 'Also, alkali metals can be cut easily with a knife, write that down as well, as it ay be part of a test.' he added. I heard a couple of kids groan.

He moved onto the rest of the columns, and we moved on to the next thing. 'Now then, I would like everyone to pass these sheets around-'

The door suddenly opened to a rebellious-looking girl. Her hair was long and a bit on the spiky side, and her uniform was modified; by modified I mean a bit more skimpy.

'Ah, Miss Kamelot. Late again?' Mr. Gill picked up the attendance sheet and marked her late.

'Yeah. Couple of friends got in a fight outside, we were trying to break them up.' she explained. She glanced in my direction and gave me a seductive smirk.

This girl is Road Kamelot. She made it obvious during the first week of school that she was into me, which came across as a bit creepy. Not to say that she's ugly or anything, she's actually really cute, but I just wasn't really that into her. She gets on my nerves a bit.

'Well then, if you could please have a seat at your desk, you'll have to borrow someone else's notes and copy them. You'll also need a permission form and this sheet.' Mr. Gill told her.

'Mhm.' Road accepted the sheets from Mr. Dopp and sat at her desk behind me. She tapped on my shoulder when the lesson continued.

'Hey, can I borrow your notes?' she whispered.

I nodded reluctantly and handed them to her. A bit further into the lesson, she returned them, but she went and wrote in a bright pink marker, "Thanks, baby ;)" with a big heart around it. I glanced back at her, and she still had that smirk on her face. I sighed.

'So next monday, guys, we're going to be doing our first chemistry experiment! Care to fill them in, Tapp?' said Mr. Gill.

'Alright, well we're going to do a quick lesson on acidity and alkalinity, and then we're gonna take a whole bunch of household products and test them to see whether they're an acid or a base!' he informed us. 'Your homework tonight is to research 3 metals, 3 metalloids, and 3 non-metals and write down their chemical information! This will be due in 2 days from now!'

The bell rang right after he finished that sentence. Everyone began packing up their stuff and leaving for home; I quickly ran up to Mr. Gill.

'Mr. Gill?'

'Oh, Allen! Did you need something?' he wondered.

'Actually, um… could I have another periodic table? Road wrote all over mine…'

I pulled out the sheet and showed it to him. He made a face. 'Ah, yeah, I'll get you a different one.' He took another sheet and gave it to me. I thanked him and took my leave.

As I made my way outside, I spotted Mana waiting outside in the car. I opened the door and got in, closing it after.

'Hey Allen. You had a good day?' he asked, driving off the property.

'Uh, yeah!' I told him. 'Totally.'

He smiled. 'So what's new and going on at school?'

'Well… there's a formal coming up, and Lavi told me that I should come, so…'

'I see.' he replied. 'How much did they say it was?'

I swallowed hard. '… 150 pounds.'

He was silent. I was almost certain he was going to say no.

'I don't know, Allen. Money's tight this winter. I was planning on using the money on your birthday present.' he told me. That's a no, indeed.

'… I know. I just thought I'd see what you'd say.'

We pulled into the driveway of our small two-story house. Mana sighed and was silent again for a moment or so. I felt myself clamming up.

'Allen, I really, really want you to have fun during your first year of school. I regret that I'm not able to pay for it this time. I'm so sorry.'

'It's okay, Mana.' I grimaced. He seemed really guilty, I felt bad for him. 'I don't have to go this year.'

I don't think that really made him feel better, I thought. I thought I should change the subject. We both got out of the car and approached the front door. Mana searched his pocket for the keys and pulled them out.

'We're also starting chemistry in science.' I stated.

'Are you, now?' he asked, seeming a bit more upbeat. 'Have you done any experiments yet?'

'We're doing one tomorrow, but Mr. Gill and Mr. Dobb showed us something really cool today!'

I told him about the alkali metal lithium, and how it exploded when it reacted with water and how everyone jumped at the sound. He must've laughed at the image of everyone becoming startled. I also told him about that girl, Road, and how she's been annoying me.

'Sounds like it's pretty eventful over there.' he joked. 'How are your grades so far?'

'Lenalee told me they're good.' I told him. Hey, I wasn't that sure of what was good or not.

'That's good. Do you have any homework?'

I pulled my binders and books out of my bag and tucked them under my arm. 'Going upstairs to do it right now.'

* * *

The clouds covered up the evening winter sky, leaving it to be slightly dark in my room without any lights. I reached over to my end table and turned on the lamp before lying back down on the bed again. My eyes were fixed on the patterns of the ceiling as I was in deep thought.

There was only one more day until Christmas. School ended for the holiday last Thursday, giving us Friday off. Lenalee and Komui had family friends coming over for the holidays, so she was busy, and Lavi mentioned he was going to be working quite a bit. This kind of left me with nothing to do. I heaved a heavy sigh out of boredom.

I began to remember a dream I had some nights ago. I feel a bit uncomfortable talking about it, but I suppose it's too late to not tell. It was a "sexy dream" I suppose you would call it. Someone was pinning me down, and it wasn't a woman. I couldn't tell who it was, but they were young. He never said anything.

He began removing my sweater and shirt, leaving my bare chest out in the open. His fingers trailed softly along my skin, causing me to shiver. They then slinked around my torso, took my clothes from under me and threw them aside; I watched as they disappeared into nothingness. I remembered my arm was visible now; I wanted to hide it, but his hand grabbed it, preventing me from doing so. The young man then began leaving kisses along my jaw line and neck; I moaned continuously as he did this.

I reached up to feel him; he had hair longer than mine, but the colour I could vaguely remember. It was dark-ish. I also discovered that his shirt was still on. I tried pulling it off with one hand, but he ended up doing it himself. He leaned in again, and his lips met with my own. My eyes closed automatically as I took in the feeling…

And then I woke up. You can only guess how awkward that felt, especially when Mana asked why I was down in the laundry room at 4 in the morning at breakfast.

I tried to erase those images from my mind, but failed horribly. They were so vivid and realistic, except I couldn't see who it was. I rolled over on my bed and hugged my pillow. Now not only did I look weird, but I dream about having sex with guys as well. Could my life get any easier?

I stayed motionless on my bed for another half-hour, trying to clear my mind and calm myself. I then got up and put my sweater on, placing my pillow back after. I sauntered down the stairs and got my key and a bit of money, until Mana stopped me.

'Where're you going, kiddo?' he asked from the kitchen.

'Just gonna go out for a bit. I'll be back soon.' I assured him.

'Alright. Just don't stay out too long, okay?'

I opened the front door and closed it behind me, making my way onto the sidewalk.

It began to snow lightly by the time I made it down to Main Street, which was as busy as ever. Maybe it's the fact that I was born in winter, but I loved snow. I felt it really calmed my nerves as I watched it fall from the sky like feathers and land neatly on the ground. It was so graceful. I felt like finding a patch of untouched snow to just lie there and watch the flakes.

I heard some music playing farther up the street, and jogged up to see what was going on. Hundreds of people were crowded along the street to watch the annual Christmas parade go by. There were floats decorated for different holiday occasions, such as Hanukkah or Ramadan, but there were floats that were themed for other things too, like a Christmas chocolate factory.

After a marching band went by, I saw the float that Santa Claus was seated upon. He was waving and smiling joyfully; all the kids on the streets were practically going nuts over him. And then they went on.

Several minutes later, I decided to leave and find another place to go to. I noted Jerry's café just up ahead, and decided to get something there. I swung the door open, which chimed as it did, and got a seat at a table near the corner of the store. I gazed out the big window, watching people go by with their bags of presents for their friends and family at home. They're so lucky, I thought to myself.

'Well, hello there, cutie!'

I knew that voice. Jerry was standing before my table, looking delighted to see me. 'Hey, Jerry.'

My friends introduced me to Jerry one time when we went out for lunch. He makes the best food and pastries here, and almost never gets an order wrong. I really admired him for that.

'Want the usual today, Allen?' he wondered.

I shook my head. 'Nah. I think I'll just get a hot chocolate, please.' I told him. He nodded and went back behind the counter to get my drink. Jerry then came back a minute later and placed the drink beside me.

'Thanks, Jer. That's all I'm gonna have today.' I placed the money on the counter and he took what he needed. I had a sip and continued to gaze outside. The drink wasn't exactly doing anything to deal with my anxiety, and I exhaled in discontent.

The café door chimed again, but I didn't bother to look. That is, until the person who came through decided to call me.

'Allen?' said Lavi's voice.

I glanced up to find him coming to my table and taking a seat across from me. 'Fancy seeing you here.' he grinned.

I grinned back. 'Yeah, just had a lot of stuff on my mind. Thought I'd take a walk and pop by down here.' I told him.

Lavi quickly told Jerry what he wanted before he turned back to me. 'Really? Talk to me.'

'Huh?'

'Tell me what's on your mind.' he clarified.

No way, buddy. 'I'd rather not talk about it.' I told him.

He seemed a bit more concerned, but I guess he let it go. Jerry came back with his latte, and Lavi paid him for it. 'You gonna be okay?' he asked.

'Yeah.' I chuckled lightly. 'So what are you up to, Lavi?'

'Just got off of work for the day. I usually come to get a latte after a shift.'

'Ah, I see.' I nodded. 'What are you doing afterwards?'

'Well, I never really have anything to do when I get home, so I guess I just chill out in town for a bit.' he said. 'You can join me, if you'd like?'

I smiled at his offer. 'Sure.'

We chatted for about another 15 minutes until we decided to say goodbye to Jerry and leave. We decided to go by the park, just for the hell of it.

It was a fairly large park; mainly just for hanging around in or having outdoor meals, but there was a small playground for younger children. I always used to stay away from the playground when I was younger, but when no one was around, Mana and I would use it. There was no one around at all tonight; they were all at home with their families for Christmas. The ground was blanketed with the pure, white snow. The only things illuminating the place amidst the darkness of the evening were the tall park lights.

'It's quiet, huh?' Lavi commented, enjoying the desertedness of it. I agreed. And… I wouldn't say this out loud, but I was glad that Lavi was with me this time instead of Mana. It was a nice change. Not that I prefer one over the other or anything.

WHUP!

I yelped at the coldness I unexpectedly felt at the back of my head. To make matters worse, it slid down the back of my shirt, making me gasp. I could hear Lavi busting a gut behind me.

'Oh man! I got you good! Bullseye!' he laughed.

Oh, it's on now.

As he was busy laughing, I hastily bent down, trying very hard to ignore the snow running down my back, and picked up some snow. Within seconds I turned it into a ball, and threw it at Lavi, which hit his lower back.

'Oi!' he shouted as he turned back to me. 'Some of that got down my pants!'

'You reap what you sow, Lavi!' I told him, smirking mischievously.

He picked up some more snow. 'Alright, you asked for it!'

'Bring it on!'

Lavi proceeded to throw the snowball at me, but he missed. I ran sideways and picked up some more snow, throwing it at him after.

'Jeez, no wonder you're getting high marks in gym!' said Lavi.

'You're leaving yourself open!' I called out, throwing another one at him. His eyebrows furrowed as he continued to chase me down.

I climbed up onto the playground equipment and hid behind a plastic wall. I suppose Lavi decided to throw them upwards, because one landed right in front of me.

'Can't outsmart me that easily, bean sprout!' Lavi laughed.

I felt a twinge of anger. 'My name is not bean sprout!' I shrieked, throwing two more at him. As he regained balance, he threw some more snowballs upwards; the more he threw, the more sand I started to see in them.

I ran towards the slide, during which I had a snowball or two hit me, and went down. Lavi tried to stop me at the bottom, but reflexes made me kick him out of the way.

'Sorry, Lavi!'

'That wasn't really necessary!' he shouted, getting up and running after me.

The snowball fight prolonged for what seemed like hours when it was only minutes until we both collapsed onto the ground, as tired as dogs on a summer day.

'T… time out…' Lavi panted.

'Yeah…'

Only the sound of our breathing could be heard for a while. I looked up at the snowflakes that were still falling on us. A small one landed on my cheek, melting and then streaming down the side of my face.

'So,' Lavi spoke up. 'Tomorrow's Christmas day, huh?'

'Yeah.' I replied.

'And you're turning 16, too.' he recalled, turning his head to the side to look at me.

'Yeah.'

Lavi gazed back up at the sky, and was silent for another minute or so. 'Hey, Allen.' he said.

'Yeah?'

He turned back to me. 'I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, but how did your left arm become like that?'

Come to think of it, I've never told anyone about how my arm became like that. 'I was born with it.' I told him.

'You were born with it?'

'Mhm. Apparently my biological parents hated my arm and decided to abandon me when I was just a preschooler. For several months I was left to fend for myself.'

'That's terrible!' Lavi exclaimed, sitting up. 'How could they just leave you like that?'

'Guess they thought 5-year-olds knew how the world worked by that age.' I joked.

Lavi gave me a strange look, and shook his head after. 'It sucks that some people just can't accept their kids for who they are. It makes me wonder why someone as selfish as your biological parents would decide to have children in the first place.' he said.

'That's just life, I suppose.' I said blithely.

'You don't seem to take this subject about your parents seriously.'

'Why should I care about my parents? They're pathetic human beings who I wouldn't even give two shits about.' I retorted, flicking some snow beside me. 'Mana, on the other hand, is a way different story.'

Lavi lied back down on the ground. 'How did you and Mana meet, anyways?' he asked.

'I got a job at the circus as a mess hall server. I wasn't paid that much, but the ringmaster was kind enough to let me stay until I could find a different place.'

'This is the same ringmaster we saw last month at your performance?'

'Yup. Back then; Mana had a dog that had the same name as me. He was like my only friend back then, other than the ringmaster. He died suddenly one day, on Christmas actually, and I was there with Mana when we buried him.' I continued. 'After I told Mana he was my only friend, I guess he decided to take me in as his own. So he took me to this office, re-named me as Allen Walker and made my birthday on December 25th, since I couldn't actually remember it.'

'Wow…' Lavi replied in awe. 'I… don't know what to say. You've been through so much, Allen.'

I glanced at him. 'What's there to say? But you know… I'm really glad to have met everyone I know now; Mana, Lenalee, Komui, Daisya, the teachers, Jerry, not so much Kanda… and you.'

Lavi sat up again. 'Me?' he laughed. 'I'm honoured.'

I sat up as well. 'Well, you've helped me through so much and taught me to come out of my shell. I'm really grateful to have you as a friend.' I beamed.

'… I'm glad.' said Lavi, giving me a real smile.

'Now you tell me about your eye,' I requested.

'Sorry, man. Classified info.' he told me, crossing his arms.

'Aw, come on, Lavi!' I pouted.

He chuckled through his nose. 'Well, the only thing I can say is that it involved a shooting.' he answered.

A shooting? 'As in gunfire?'

'Yeah. But that's all I'm allowed to tell you. The old man won't let me say any more.'

I checked my watch; it was almost 8:30 at night. I stood back up and brushed the snow off of my clothes. 'Well, I should head back; Mana's probably wondering where I am.' I told Lavi.

'I'll come with you.' he said.

'You sure? I mean your grandfather may not like it-'

Lavi quickly gave a "pshaw" look. 'Oh whatever. I'm 18, I'm a grown-up; I can make my own decisions.' he rebutted.

We left the park and went back down Main Street; the parade was over, but the people were still out and about doing their last minute shopping. We chatted and laughed along the way over various things, like over our different classes, or how Komui got food poisoning from the hot dog last month. Later on, we began to notice that all the stores were beginning to close. We passed by Jerry's and wished him a good night before he closed up the café.

Now that all the lights of the city were turning off, the only things that were left on were the streetlights looming above us. I gave kind of an eerie feel, but it wasn't that bad since Lavi was walking with me. It didn't take us long until we were in my neighbourhood. We wowed and laughed at some of the decorations outside of each of the houses. Some people just didn't care to take down their stuff from Halloween.

Finally my house came into view. But before we could make it there, Lavi grabbed my wrist all of the sudden. I turned to face him.

'Hey, Allen. Before you go home, there was something I wanted to give you.' Lavi told me.

I paused for a minute. 'Uh, okay.'

Lavi let go of me and reached into his coat pocket. His hand came out holding a bright blue slip of paper, and he placed it in my hand.

'Happy birthday, Allen.'

I turned it over to find "Blackwood Winter Formal!" written on it, along with the information and destination. My mouth gaped open as I looked back at him. 'You didn't!' I exclaimed.

'I wanted to. I felt bad that you couldn't afford it, so I got you one.' he smiled.

'But what about a tuxedo-'

'It's all good. Komui agreed to pay for it for you.'

I was speechless. I wanted to cry out of sheer happiness, but come on, I'm wasn't gonna do that in front of Lavi. I decided "okay, brohug" instead.

I said goodbye to Lavi and ran back to the house as quickly as possible. I opened the door and closed it behind me, leaning against the surface. I held up my ticket once more in front of me and grinned excitedly.

'I'm home!' I called out. No answer. I walked into the kitchen. 'Mana? Dad!'

I quickly spotted a piece of paper on the table. It had Mana's handwriting on it.

_"Come to the garage."_

I put the paper back down and placed my ticket back in my pocket. I went back outside and searched for the garage door pull, dragging it up after. The lights were on, and I found Mana waiting inside.

'Mana?'

'Hey kiddo.' he grinned. 'Happy birthday.'

I wondered for a second what he meant until I saw the big, grey bike I saw behind him. 'No way!' I exclaimed. I ran up to him and hugged him tightly, and then looked at my new bike in awe. It was so shiny and new, I actually didn't want to ruin it by riding it. Then I remembered the ticket.

'Oh, dad, look what Lavi gave me!' I took the ticket out of my pocket and showed it to him. He grinned.

'So you get to go after all, huh?' he said.

'Yeah! I'm so excited! I can't wait to go.'

Mana patted my shoulder. 'I'm glad you're able to go now, Allen. I just wish I could've been able to pay for it. But I knew you wanted the bike too, so-'

'It's okay, Mana. I love both of these gifts, and I couldn't ask for anything more.' I told him.

I wrapped my arms around him again gratefully. He chuckled. 'You should think about heading to bed now, kiddo. We've got a big day tomorrow.' he reminded me.

'Christmas with the crew?' I asked. He nodded once. 'Alright then. Night, Mana.'

'Night.'

I ran back into the house and bounded up the stairs to my room. I closed my door and flopped onto my bed, taking out my ticket once more. I stared at it for a good minute and put it on my end table before I continued what I was doing a few hours ago: staring at the ceiling.

I thought about my dream again, and finally came to a conclusion. Two, actually. The first was that I was probably attracted to guys. And the second: I was in love with my senior.

* * *

And that's it for chapter 4! Allen's crush has finally been revealed! But what lies in store for Allen at the winter formal?

Find out next time when chapter 5 comes out!

Yours truly,  
LMC


End file.
